


Just a maid

by ToxicPineapple



Series: Femslash February 2021 [10]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/F, Femslash February, Hair Braiding, Introspection, Missing Scene, Unreliable Narrator, implied romantic feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: “It isn’t a problem,” Toujou reassures. She carefully begins braiding Shirogane’s hair, her touch perfectly light, so as not to pull too hard on any particular strands. “I am happy to listen to you speak, Shirogane-san. It is a pleasure to me to fulfill all requests, even implicit ones.”“Ah, because you’re a maid, right?” Shirogane can’t help grinning. It’s in her character, after all. Of course even something like that would bring Toujou pleasure. “Well, that’s good to hear, you know. My ramblings can get just plain tiresome, I would never want to bore you.”There’s a moment of quiet, a hesitation in Toujou, and Shirogane chalks it up to her focusing on the braiding. Surely there isn’t any other reason why Toujou would hesitate there. She’s a maid, after all. That truly is the strongest facet of her character. She just wants to serve. Be needed. Be useful. And she’s needed and useful like this, so of course she would want to listen.That’s the only reason.---Toujou braids Shirogane's hair.---Femslash February day ten: Kiss
Relationships: Shirogane Tsumugi/Toujou Kirumi
Series: Femslash February 2021 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137446
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	Just a maid

**Author's Note:**

> written for day ten of femslash february, the prompt i used was "kiss" and you can find a complete prompt list in the series description

Shirogane hums quietly while Toujou carefully divides her hair into smaller sections, cool gloved fingertips brushing against the nape of her neck with every movement. She enjoys that sensation much more than she enjoys the feel of the wooden comb, which Toujou holds in her non-dominant hand (which Shirogane knows is Toujou’s non-dominant hand, because she wrote her that way) tugging at the tangles in her hair every so often. Shirogane’s got tough skin-- literally in this case, heh-- though, so she isn’t about to complain about it, especially since Toujou is doing her a favour right now.

Even if it  _ is  _ in Toujou’s programming, to accept requests like this. Shirogane can’t see Toujou’s expression right now, but she imagines that the other girl is smiling slightly to herself as she braids Shirogane’s hair, pleased to be requested, to be needed. That’s what Toujou needs, and has always needed, even before she was accepted into  _ Danganronpa.  _ When Shirogane was interviewing Toujou’s older brother, under the pretense of being an employer looking to higher Toujou (and, well, that wasn’t a  _ lie,  _ exactly) he described that Toujou always  _ needed  _ to be needed, needed to be helpful, needed to please. He’d seemed almost guilty when he said that last part, but when Shirogane asked he brushed her off, and she could tell he wasn’t going to divulge any more than he already had.

A shame, really. But she got plenty out of that interview, as evidenced by the things that Toujou has done for the lot of them already, the careful, precise way she’s been taking care of them all. Tomorrow Shirogane will have the Monokubz pass out the motive videos, and Toujou’s priorities will shift from a group of thirteen adolescents to all of Japan, but for now there’s nothing on her mind but the group of them, so Shirogane thought that she might as well have her hair done.

And it’s nice, to be touched like this, even if she knows that it’s in Toujou’s nature to do so; that she means nothing by it.

“You know, it’s been a really long time since someone else has braided my hair for me,” Shirogane muses, just idly. It has. Shirogane can’t actually remember the last time somebody touched her hair in such an intimate way, even if she did have a stylist getting her ready for the pre-season photoshoot. That moment was loud and overstimulating, and Shirogane had  _ loved  _ it-- but it’s a different kind of feeling than this, the quiet, the peaceful safety of getting her hair done by a girl who would never hurt her.

(Yet.)

“My hair is blue, see? But it’s not the  _ right  _ kind of blue for any of the cosplays I do, except maybe Sailor Mercury, but of course her hair is so short and I’d rather just use a wig than crop off all my hair, because I  _ do  _ rather like having long hair like this… besides, cutting my hair short for a cosplay would be a waste of time, especially when it would all grow back so quickly. Of course, I know hair doesn’t actually grow faster when you cut it shorter, it just feels that way because it’s easier to track growth when it’s short… oh, I’m rambling! Sorry, Toujou-san, I always get so carried away.” There’s a hint of genuine embarrassment in Shirogane’s voice. (She really didn’t mean to ramble.) “You’re just so easy to talk to, you know.”

“It isn’t a problem,” Toujou reassures. She carefully begins braiding Shirogane’s hair, her touch perfectly light, so as not to pull too hard on any particular strands. “I am happy to listen to you speak, Shirogane-san. It is a pleasure to me to fulfill all requests, even implicit ones.”

“Ah, because you’re a maid, right?” Shirogane can’t help grinning. It’s in her character, after all. Of course even something like  _ that  _ would bring Toujou pleasure. “Well, that’s good to hear, you know. My ramblings can get just plain tiresome, I would never want to bore you.”

There’s a moment of quiet, a hesitation in Toujou, and Shirogane chalks it up to her focusing on the braiding. Surely there isn’t any other reason why Toujou would hesitate there. She’s a maid, after all. That truly is the strongest facet of her character. She just wants to serve. Be needed. Be useful. And she’s needed and useful like this, so of course she would want to listen.

That’s the  _ only  _ reason.

“I do not find anything that you have to say to be tiresome,” Toujou says, (a reassurance she gives, of course, because it’s her duty to), putting one warm, gloved head on Shirogane’s jaw to get her to tilt her head back slightly. Shirogane does so, allowing her better access to her hair. “I like to listen to you speak. Even as a friend.”

Hmmmm. Shirogane supposes it’s not unreasonable that Toujou might’ve gotten requests of friendship, in the past. She is an  _ excellent  _ maid. The best that there is. Way better than that awful fan service character they included back in season thirty six. “Well, then, if that’s true, I’ll gladly keep on talking to you! As a friend, of course,” Shirogane giggles, and there’s a smile in Toujou’s voice when she speaks next.

“Please do, Shirogane-san. I enjoy our time together like this.”

So Shirogane does. It’s easy to find things to ramble about, easy to just let her shoulders down and close her eyes, because Toujou really is wonderful at she does. Toujou’s gentle touch in her hair is so soothing, and her presence is so comfortable, Shirogane could almost fall asleep. It’s even easier to imagine doing so with the knowledge that, if she  _ did  _ fall asleep, Toujou would merely tuck her into bed and turn the light off and leave her to sleep, she wouldn’t do anything but take care of Shirogane, as any good maid would do.

That’ll change after tomorrow, of course. Tomorrow Toujou will be willing to sacrifice the lot of them, Shirogane included. There’s no reason why Toujou should hold any of them above the others, or above her country. She needs to be  _ needed,  _ after all.

Toujou ties off Shirogane’s hair with the pale orange ribbon that she gave her and then walks around to stand in front of her, smiling in a manner that is almost… odd.

She’s so very pretty, with her green grey eyes and her long eyelashes and the lock of platinum blonde hair that falls in front of her eye. The smile on her face is lovely, too, quiet and thoughtful and  _ odd,  _ by which Shirogane means it’s impossible for her to decipher. Toujou’s gaze is almost… strong, right now, in a way that’s less anxiety inducing and more simply… confusing. Shirogane doesn’t know how to describe it.

And then Toujou reaches out with one gloved hand and takes one of Shirogane’s, kneeling down to kiss the back of it, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment.

It’s as though Shirogane’s heart stops in her chest.

There’s another smile on Toujou’s face as she straightens back up again, smoothing down her skirt.

“You look lovely, Shirogane-san,” Toujou says. “Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist you.”

Swallowing thickly, Shirogane replies, “Yeah! Sure, yeah, yup, uh-huh, I… I definitely will, Toujou-san. Thank you so much.” She smiles, and Toujou smiles again too, curtsying before she leaves, her heels clicking on the floor behind her.

Shirogane’s throat is dry, her heart back in action, pounding heavy and painful in her chest, in her ears.

She’s just a maid. She’s just a maid. She’s just a maid. That’s how she was  _ written. _

She just… needs to be needed, in more ways than one, that’s all. That’s  _ all. _ There’s no other possible reason for her to behave that way, there  _ isn’t.  _ She’s just a  _ maid. _

(And Shirogane is just a mastermind, who  _ doesn’t  _ have an ache in her chest as she convinces herself of this.

She doesn’t.)

**Author's Note:**

> tsumugi's denial hurts me here
> 
> haha why do i keep writing canon compliant angst of the v3 girls? i am mean. i am cruel and mean
> 
> writing romantic stuff with canon mugi is always interesting to me, i feel like the concept of her falling in love with one of her creations who has obliviously fallen in love with her is just.... really potent, idk. i did it for kaemugi and here it is for shirotoujou
> 
> come get your FUCKING food, leon


End file.
